MISSOULA — For the fourth time in coach Travis DeCuire's tenure, the Montana men's basketball team is the Big Sky Conference regular-season champion.
The Grizzlies overcame a slow start Monday to rally for an 83-72 win over Eastern Washington at Dahlberg Arena and clinch a share of the Big Sky title. Montana and Northern Colorado finished the regular season tied atop the league standings.
Money Williams continued his recent hot streak for the Griz, scoring a game-high 23 points on 7-of-14 shooting. He was one of five players to score in double figures for UM, which also got 19 points, on 6-of-6 shooting, from Te'Jon Sawyer, 13 from Brandon Whitney, 12 from Malik Moore and 11 from Joe Pridgen.
Pridgen added 11 rebounds to finish with a double-double, while Whitney added three assists to his stat line, bringing his career total to a program-record 436. DeCuire was the previous record-holder with 435 assists during his Griz playing career from 1991-94.
Whitney's record-breaking assist came on a pass to Moore, who sank a wing 3-pointer to break a 70-70 tie with 2:42 to play and spark a 13-2 run to close out the game. Following Moore's 3, Pridgen sank two free throws to push the Griz lead to 75-70.
Eastern Washington got a tough layup from Mason Williams moments later but wouldn't score the rest of the way, as Montana iced the game at the free throw line. The Grizzlies made 23 of 33 free throws in the game, including a stretch of six consecutive made shots during the closing run.
Photos: Montana Grizzlies win share of Big Sky Conference regular-season championship
The Eagles were only 8 of 11 at the free throw line.
Eastern Washington began the game about as well as it could have, building a 19-5 lead after a Mason Williams 3 less than seven minutes into the game. But Montana responded with a 10-0 run keyed by a Whitney jumper, five points from Money Williams and a 3-pointer from Kai Johnson.
The Eagles' lead stayed between four and eight points the rest of the first half as they shot a blistering 65.4% over the first 20 minutes. Mason Williams and Andrew Cook, a former standout at NAIA Carroll College, combined for 24 first-half points on 11-of-12 shooting.
EWU maintained its advantage for the first seven minutes of the second half before Money Williams finally gave the Griz their first lead at 53-51 with 12:01 to play. From there, the teams remained close until Montana's late run to steal the win.
Mason Williams led Eastern Washington (10-21, 6-12 Big Sky) with 20 points, and Cook contributed 19.
Next up for the Griz (22-9, 15-3) is the Big Sky Conference tournament, which starts Saturday in Boise, Idaho. No. 2-seeded Montana will play a quarterfinal game against either Northern Arizona or Eastern Washington at 8 p.m. Sunday.
Northern Arizona and Eastern Washington play in a first-round game on Saturday.
